FSF releases consultation document

The Technical Guidance Workstream of the Fire Sector Federation has released for open consultation a draft document on Fire Safety and Sustainability in Building Design.

The document aims to encourage all those involved in the specification, planning, design and construction of fire safety in new buildings to think more widely than health and safety alone. Its intention is to help people to consider how to make a building sustainable in the face of fire and promote a low environmental impact.

Fire Safety and Sustainability in Building Design explains that the ability of a building to avoid disproportionate damage in the event of a fire should be taken into account when considering its capacity to be sustainable and maintain a low environmental impact.

Intended as a voluntary guide, the document is based on the principle that to be described as ‘sustainable against fire’, the constructed building must be able to demonstrate that, if it is involved in fire, it will have a lower environmental, economic and social impact than would have been the case if it had observed only mandatory fire safety standards. It recommends 12 best practice processes that should be followed to ensure sustainability against fire.

Explaining the philosophy of the document Workstream Chair Dave Sibert comments:

“The Technical Guidance Workstream is pleased to release this document to the wider community for consultation. Its aim is to help building design go beyond life safety measures and to consider life safety and the environment.

“While, a number of publications exist that give recommendations that go further than minimum fire safety standards, the purpose of this document is to distil some of those recommendations into a single publication to assist those who wish to contribute to sustainability through best practice in the fire safety design procedure.

“It is hoped that the recommendations contained within the document will form the basis of a new fire safety rating within the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) rating system for buildings”

The document will be out for open consultation for a three month period. Comments are invited from any interested organisations or individuals on the text, suggested additional text or on the document as a whole.

All comments must be returned to the Fire Sector Federation on the official Comments Form by 25 July 2013.

For further information, or to download Fire Safety and Sustainability in Building Design and a Comments Form, visit www.firesectorfederation.co.uk